Alex Dowsett acknowledged that his busy year finally caught up with him after missing out on a top-ten finish in the elite men’s time trial at the Road World Championships in Richmond, USA.
Belarus’ Vasil Kiryienka took the title as Dowsett finished 17th, 2:06.56 minutes behind the winner, on the 53.5km course from the King’s Dominion amusement park to downtown Richmond.
The 26-year-old is something of a time trial specialist but admitted before the race that the set-up of the course didn’t particularly suit him.
After a season that has seen him take the hour record, win the British time trial title, claim a maiden stage race win at Bayern Rundfahrt and make his first Tour de France appearance, Dowsett wasn’t surprised by his finishing position.
“It was alright all things considered,” he said. “I did what I could, made a good job of it but I wasn't seeing the numbers I'd like to.
“I guess I'm not overly surprised. I've taken on a lot this season and I think it's just caught up with me a bit.”
Steve Cummings was the top British rider on the day after producing a strong ride to finish 14th, 1:58.59 minutes behind Kiryienka.
And Cummings, who won team pursuit silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was content with his display despite failing to secure a top-ten finish that would have sealed Great Britain a second spot in next year’s Olympic time trial.
“I think I got out really quite well,” said the 34-year-old. “Top ten was the target to qualify two places for the Olympics - that's really important for me and for everyone at British Cycling.
“It's a power course and there's no rest so it's pretty grim actually. It's pretty tough - you've got to push all the way. I quite like that kind of thing, I actually quite enjoy it.”
Great Britain will play their first Davis Cup final since 1978 on clay after opponents Belgium confirmed that the matches will be played at the Flanders Expo in Ghent.
Britain reached the final after an historic semi-final with Australia which saw Andy Murray take two singles victories and an epic doubles win with brother Jamie.
The final will be played between November 27-29 and the Scot believes the surface could help seal a British title.
“So Ghent on the clay for the Davis Cup final - very pumped! Think clay is a good surface for us,” the former Wimbledon champion tweeted.
While Murray might be excited for the competition the dates throw into jeopardy his participation in this year's World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena which go across five days from November 22.
“If you reach the final and play on the Sunday you also need to take time off - you can't just play five matches against the best players in the world and then not take any days off,” said Murray.
Sir Bradley Wiggins will miss the British Cycling National Track Championships later this month after pulling out on medical advice.
The Championships take place in Manchester on 25-27 September but Wiggins will not be present after suffering with a cold following the recent Tour of Britain.
After a successful road career, the 2012 Tour de France winner and four-time Olympic gold medallist has returned to the track to try and win a place in the British squad for Rio 2016.
He will now focus on the European Track Cycling Championships in Switzerland next month.
Kelly Sibley says things are coming together as England prepare for this week's European table tennis Championships in Russia.
Sibley will lead the English charge when the competition kicks off on Friday with Greece, Belgium and Finland lying in wait.
The 27-year-old will be joined by Karina Le Fevre, Lois Peake and newcomer Maria Tsaptsinos, who makes her senior international debut.
“It's starting to come together and I'm really looking forward to it,” she said. “I’ve been doing pre-season training at the University of Nottingham and doing some sessions in the gym.
“There are some strong teams in that division and we're going to have to play our best table tennis to get promotion.
“We lost to Greece at the last European Championships and obviously we'll be looking to get revenge against them.
“Any of the teams at that level can beat anybody but if we put in some good performances and stay focused then we can be fighting for that promotion place.”
Professional athletes often have a tendency to publically downplay expectations but Adam Peaty is such a red-hot favourite in every race he enters, that it’s not really an option for the swimmer – lest he be accused of false humility.
Instead, with Rio 2016 less than a year away, the 20-year-old freely admits he is targeting Olympic gold and concedes that, thanks to his incredible recent success, he sometimes has trouble keeping himself grounded.
If 2014 was spectacular for Peaty – and six gold medals across the European Championships and Commonwealth Games suggest it was – then 2015 was out of this world.
At the World Championships in Kazan over the summer, he claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke, 4x100m mixed medley relay and 100m breaststroke – breaking the world record in the first two events.
As for the 100m breaststroke? Well, he broke the world record for that event in April’s British Championships. And so with the 2015 season now in the books, Peaty is turning his attention to making 2016 an even more memorable year.
“I think the Worlds was a really good time for me, you can’t really complain with three golds and then to add two world records was even better,” said Peaty.
“But it’s all about moving on now for Rio – focusing on what went wrong and what went right and getting that in my training schedule so that hopefully I have improved even further by the time the Olympics comes around.”
Read more from Peaty in our Team GB Exclusive here
Giarnni Regini-Moran secured a pair of gold medals at the prestigious Japan junior international in Yokohama.
Youth Olympic champion Regini-Moran took victory on the floor and the vault as well as picking up bronze on the parallel bars and finishing fifth in the all-around.
Joe Fraser also impressed by finishing fourth in the all-around and on the pommel horse while in the women’s competition Maisie Methuen came seventh in the vault and tenth in the all-around. © Sportsbeat 2015